CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — Law enforcement spent hours Wednesday searching an area of Clarendon County looking for more information in the slaying of a University of South Carolina student.
Dozens of police officers and vehicles responded to a remote area where the body of 21-year-old Samantha Josephson was found last Friday afternoon. Josephson, a USC student, was kidnapped and killed after mistakenly getting into what she thought was her Uber ride in Five Points.
The spot is just off Black Bottom Road, in a wooded area just with several dirt roads nearby. The suspect in this murder case, 24-year-old Nathaniel Rowland, used to live in that area, according to investigators.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources dive team was brought in search a pond there, and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents responded too.
An official with SCDNR said crews were looking for "additional articles pertaining to Josephson's murder."
The news comes on the same day Josephson was laid to rest in her hometown back in New Jersey.
Columbia police say Josephson, a senior political science major, had been hanging out with friends between 1:30 and 2 a.m. last Friday morning at The Bird Dog at 715 Harden Street in Five Points. She somehow got separated from her friends, and decided to get an Uber ride using her phone.
Chief Skip Holbrook said she saw a black Chevy Impala pull up to the curb, thought it was her ride, and at 2:09 a.m., got into the back of the vehicle. However, it was reportedly not the car she was waiting for.
Hours later, her roommates, who all lived with her at The Hub high-rise in downtown Columbia, became concerned. At 1:30 p.m. Friday, they called police after all their efforts to reach her failed.
Officers began their investigation, and around 3:45 p.m., they got a call from the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office stating turkey hunters had found a woman's body in a wooded area off a dirt road. That's roughly 70 miles from where she went missing.
The area has thick trees, farms and very few people living nearby. News19 spoke with people in that area who said they saw SLED agents and Clarendon deputies in the area late Friday afternoon.
Holbrook said Rowland had lived around there, and was familiar with the area where investigators say he left the body. The chief added that someone would almost have to know that spot to go to it.
"It's very difficult to get to unless you knew how to get there," Holbrook said.
Forensics investigators were able to confirm that the body found there was Josephson.
Around 3 a.m. Saturday morning, a K9 officer found a black Impala about two blocks from in Five Points. His partner pulled over the car, but the driver, Rowland, got out and ran.
The officer chased after him and was able to take him into custody. Police say a female acquaintance was with Rowland at the time and has been cooperating with investigators.